Their
research has been vetted and is considered accurate to quote lead researcher
Andrew Mayes, from UEA's School of Chemistry: “We have been involved with
independently reviewing the findings and methodology to ensure the study is
robust and credible…. The results stack up”.

Representatives
from the International Bottled Water Association, the asociation that
represents the bottled water industry took issue with the findings, claiming
that the research was not peer-reviewed and quote: “not based on sound science”
and point out that, quote: “A recent scientific study published in the
peer-reviewed journal Water Research in February 2018 concluded that no
statistically relevant amount of microplastic can be found in water in
single-use plastic bottles”.

They
even threw in a bit of uncertainty on fact that if microplastic is present, it
would have no known health effects to quote the International Bottled Water
Association: “There is no scientific consensus on the potential health impacts
of microplastic particles. The data on the topic is limited and conclusions
differ dramatically from one study to another”.

So
how did the researchers conduct their research?

University of East
Anglia's School of Chemistry Bottled water Research - Microplastic exposed

The
Researchers tested the water by staining it with the fluorescent Nile Red dye,
which makes plastic fluorescent when irradiated with blue light.

They
then did as chemical assay on the plastic discovered in these samples and
realized that it was of the following types:

1.Nylon

2.Polyethylene
terephthalate (PET)

3.Polypropylene

The
researcher conducted a three months study and discovered that 93% of samples
taken from the following top brands of bottled water have microplastic
suspended in their water:

1.Aqua

2.Aquafina

3.Bisleri

4.Dasani

5.Epura

6.Evian

7.Gerolsteiner

8.Minalba

9.Nestle
Pure Life

10.San
Pellegrino

11.Wahaha

They
took their samples from some 250 bottles of water purchased in the following
countries:

1.Brazil

2.China

3.India

4.Indonesia,

5.Kenya

6.Lebanon

7.Mexico

8.Thailand

9.United
States

These
are basically the material used to make the bottled water, with Polypropylene
being used to make bottle caps.

Dr.
Sherri Mason of the State University of New York at Fredonia was quick to point
out that the particles were not as small as expected and seem to have been
produced during the manufacture of the bottle, quote: “In this study, 65
percent of the particles we found were actually fragments and not fibers. I
think that most of the plastic that we are seeing is coming from the bottle
itself.

It
is coming from the cap. It is coming from the industrial process of bottling
the water”.

In
other words, the plastic bottles are not disintegrating and dissolving into the
water, but have angular shapes when viewed under microscope, suggesting that
they were mechanically cut, not gradually worn by chemical attack by the water.

On
average the concentration of the particles range from “zero to more than 10,000
likely plastic particles in a single bottle” as stated in their research paper
or roughly 10.4 plastic particles per liter. Even smaller particles were more
common, averaging about 325 per liter.

It
is true that water is slightly negative, and bottle water, being almost
ultrapure, can attack positively charged ions in the bottle, as this video
explains:

But
unless the water contains metallic ions this is unlikely. So clearly there were
the result of the mechanical process involve in making plastic bottled.

So
what does this mean for our health?

Microplastic and Human
Health - Unknown side effects as we may just pass it out

For
one, it means that I'll be drinking more Tap water as of now.

That's
because it's safer as previous research by Orb Media has found plastic
particles in tap water but in smaller amounts to quote Dr. Sherri Mason: “Tap
water, by and large, is much safer than bottled water”.

As
for the effect on humans, this is unclear as no definitive studies have
connected microplastic, being as most research has mainly being correlations
and have not ruled out other external environmental factors as pointed out by
Dr. Sherri Mason, quote: “There are connections to increases in certain kinds
of cancer to lower sperm count to increases in conditions like ADHD and autism.
We know that they are connected to these synthetic chemicals in the environment
and we know that plastics are providing kind of a means to get those chemicals
into our bodies”.

Jacqueline
Savitz, chief policy officer for North America at Oceana, a marine advocacy
group that was not involved in the research says that this is more evide3nce
that we need to stop using plastic bottles, as the long term health risks are
still unknown, quote: “We know plastics are building up in marine animals, and
this means we too are being exposed, some of us every day.

It's
more urgent now than ever before to make plastic water bottles a thing of the
past”.

Then
again, being as this plastic is undigestible by the human body, would we not
pass it out in our stool, as no enzymes exist that can break it down?

I'd
be a little more worried if this was nanoparticle sized particles, as those
could effectively be nano-machines, as at that size they are basically high
reactive nanoparticles that can react with enzymes and cheimcals and cause real
harm.

Still
more reason to invest in a water filter.....and drink piped water!!!

Sunday, March 25, 2018

“The
advancement we have achieved over our proof-of-concept demonstration last year
is the testing of a small-scale prototype in desert conditions where we believe
absorption-based water harvesting systems are most practical. In addition, we
have made several design improvements which enabled operation at greatly
improved efficiencies.

Sameer Rao, a
post-doctoral research associate who worked on the project in an interview with
Digital Trends.

MIT
is at it again!!! This time they've developed the technology that makes the
Moisture farms on Tatooine from Star Wars seem possible.

The
team reported their findings in the journal Science in a article that was
co-authored by Berkeley graduate student Eugene Kapustin, project scientist
Hiroyasu Furukawa, and professor of chemistry Omar Yaghi as noted in the
article “Water,
water everywhere … even in the air”, published April 14, 2017 by David
Chandler, MIT News Office.

The
MIT's team has been testing their tech in the dry air of Tempe, Arizona to
provide more evidence that it truly can extract water from even the driest air.

So
how does the MOF work to extract moisture from the air?

MIT and MOF Moisture
Farming – Space Colonization Now within grasp

Indeed,
harvesting water from the air is nothing new.

Fog
harvesting is already done in Chile and Morocco but requires very moist air,
with a relative humidity of 100 percent as this video explains.

Fog
harvesting works in very limited regions. The alternative, which is to chill
the air to its dew point, is called Dew Harvesting.

This
is basically a refrigerator turned inside out and is energy intensive, as power
has to be expended to keep the condenser plate cool. Worse, it need humidity
levels as high as 50% to generate any significant amount of water and as such,
is best done at night where the cooling equiptment can operate more efficiently
as this video explains.

There
are also “air wells” that are designed with special hydrophobic material that
require no energy to collect water.

The
MOF Method has none of these limitations and is completely passive as this
video explains.

The
researchers believe that a scaled-up version of their miniature MOF extraction
system could output more than a quarter-liter of water per day per kilogram of
MOF as predicted by Sameer Rao, a post-doctoral research associate who worked
on the project, quote: “…By careful design and optimization, we developed a
device which is well suited for operation in arid conditions and under negative
dew points in which competing commercially mature technologies such as
refrigeration-based dewing cycles are infeasible.”

Still,
its cost might make it impractical for all but the driest of places on earth. But
its application for Space Travel seems more feasible, making colonizing the
solar system and the Asteroid belt possible.

Sunday, March 18, 2018

One
day in the future, shopping at Hi-Lo Store can be done online. But if you
decide to go to a Hi-Lo Store, you may find the express line is a bit
different!

GraceKennedy,
not satisfied with their Hi-Lo Stores, have plans to introduce self-checkout
machines as reported in the article “Self-checkout
for Hi-Lo?” published Wednesday, March 14, 2018 by Karena Bennett, The Jamaica Observer.

GK
Group CEO Don Wehby made this announcement at an investor briefing on Thursday
8th of March 2018.

With
an online website for their renovated stores, GraceKennedy may be making it
possible for Jamaicans to call their relatives abroad and have them purchase
groceries and delivered to their front door.

A
total of 450,000 meters are being provided under this contract with Diehl Metering. The
implementation of the smart water infrastructure technology is expected to be
completed by the NWC and Diehl
Metering in 5 years time.

These
Digital Water Meters not only have a digital display but use non-mechanical electronic
circuits in a flow meter to determine water flow based on electric Induction or
ultrasound in the case of the Diehl Metering Digital
Water Meter.

To
better understand a Digital Water Meter, here is how the previous Mechanical
Water Meter technology works as explained in a video.

Now
here is how the Diehl
Metering Digital Water Meter works as explained in the video below.

And
yes, expect to see increases in your water bill, especially if you have leaks
in your house!!!! These Prepaid Digital Water Meters are more accurate, making
a dripping faucet or a broken pipe cost you thousands of dollar as pointed out
in this video.

Rainwater
harvesting is the equivalent of what Solar Power is to electricity; a means of
saving on the use of a utility that is putting in place infrastructure to
charge you for every Watt....or Drop...of their Prepaid Water service!!

Based
on HEVC (High Efficiency Video Coding) used in video compressions, HEIF, which
when using HEVC is called HEIC (High Efficiency Image Compression), reduces
files sizes of a typical JPEG (Joint Pictures Expert Group) image by as much as
50% without loss in quality!!!

Microsoft and HEIC -
Photographer to benefit from included Blockchain support

Even
more stunning, it can act as a compression format, enableing smaller versions
of the following photo effects:

1.Live
photos

2.Bursts
of photos

3.3D
scene data useful for special effects

4.Audio

Still
complex requirements for patent royalty payments may prevent this from becoming
widely adopted, even though it's already baked into Apple's iOS from 2017 and
Google's Android P launched just this month. What makes HEIC attractive to
photographers is that it makes image sharing difficult, due to its use of
blockchain.

This
makes images harder to steal and renders images uneditable and unviewable once
it can be confirmed that you did not give permission for it to be used. Any
tech that’ll make data plans last longer is always welcome. But I suspect this
may find use among photographers seeking to profit from their images.

Saturday, March 10, 2018

“This
is a revolutionary partnership with the JUTC to provide free Wi-Fi access to
passengers. Our vision is to eventually see data services in Jamaica become
like oxygen, available to everyone, everywhere. In a few months, a sizable
number of Jamaicans will have a new avenue to access connectivity - email,
browsing, and messaging - facilitating a more productive and enjoyable commute”

Growth Tech's Chief
Executive Officer Neil Lawrence, speaking at the contract-signing ceremony at
the Ministry of Science, Energy and Technology in St Andrew.

Looks
like I might soon have another reason to take the JUTC Bus again!

The
implementation is slated to start in June 2018 in the KMTR (Kingston
Metropolitan Area) with other JUTC buses being upgraded by December 2018.

So
how does Growth Tech plan to make money from this venture if the Wi-Fi service
is free?

Growth Tech Limited and
the JUTC - Free Wi-Fi with a sprinkling of local Advertising

The
answer is advertising!

Commuters
may have to install an app to access the free W-Fi and thus be bombarded with a
lot of local ads as pointed out by Growth Tech's Chief Executive Officer Neil
Lawrence, quote: “We are a business, so there is an opportunity for us to earn.
We will be selling ads”.

Growth
Tech will remotely monitor their Wi-Fi Hotspots which have been tested to
withstand the day to day commute on Jamaica's pothole ridden roads.

As
for porn and other content, forget about it. The usage will be monitored and
abusive behavior such as streaming may be banned; this may just simply be free
Wi-Fi for checking social media and Whatsapp calling.

The
JUTC benefits as more Jamaicans will ride the Bus just to get the free Wi-Fi,
increasing their revenue as pointed out by JUTC's Managing Director Paul
Abrahams quote: “We are looking for this initiative to increase ridership
significantly, and that is where our interest is, and, possibly, generating
revenue from advertising”.

ReadyTV's
Technicians come to your home and based on your location, they determine if you
can get coverage from their tower. Three options exist as listed in the table
below:

Delivery Method

Time

Location

Cost

Additional Information

Home Delivery

Within 24 hours

Kingston, Portmore
& Spanish Town

$900. The cost of the
box is not included.

$1800 in other areas.

Home Delivery &
Installation

48 hours

Kingston, Portmore
& Spanish Town

$2500. The cost of the
box and outdoor antenna is not included.

$4000 in other areas
within 48 hours.

Installation Service
Only

4 hours (Premium
Service)

Premium service in
Kingston, Portmore & Spanish Town

$4000 in 4 hours $2500
within 24 hours

$3500 for Standard Installation for other
areas

The
$4,000 setup cost is far cheaper than any cable company on the market and you
get 10 free channels; eight local and two overseas. While your Prepaid TV
Starter Pack includes a basic indoor antenna to help get you started, and
outdoor antenna to optimize your viewing experience is highly recommended.

An
outdoor antenna will overcome most signal interference issues you might
encounter, including:

1.Distance
from our broadcast tower

2.Obstructed
lines of sight

3.Hilly
terrains

4.Buildings
or environmental factors

There
are many types of powered and unpowered UHF outdoor antennas that will work
with your digital box. Always check the manufacturer’s label to ensure the
antenna covers the UHF 470-862MHz frequency range.

Coverage
is not a guarantee from their one Tower in Cooper's Hill so call 1-888-429-5RTV
(788) to ﬁnd out if we have coverage in your area.

So
now on to the packages!!!!

How ReadyTV Service
Works - The Packages

Subscribers
have a choice of one of five (5) packages of 33 channels each:

1.ReadySTART

2.ReadySET

3.ReadyGo

4.ReadyWIN

5.ReadyMax

Please
see the ReadyTV brochure for more
details on the Packages and their codes.

The
cost of packages depends on how long the subscriber wishes to enjoy watching
these packages and how many channels they wish to have:

1.$150
per day

2.$900
per week

3.$2,700
per month

Please
see the ReadyTV brochure for more
details on the channel offering for the different packages.

They
purchase their packages using ReadyCredit Scratchcards/e-vouchers, which is
denominated in a manner similar to Prepaid Phone Card used by Telecom
Providers.

These
ReadyCredit Scratchcards/e-cards are denominated in a manner similar to Prepaid
Phone Card used by Telecom Providers:

Good
to note that your “USER ID” is the four digit number you will receive upon
registering your box. You'll also receive a text with Top Up approval and
credit balance and codes available to buy channel packages.

Folks,
with ReadyTV going National in June 2018, expect more news from the Geezam blog
as well as on this blog as we'll be testing out their product and doing a video
von their service